The day starts with some very nice weather out on course. Will anyone be able to defeat Bennati in today’s race? He has looked almost impervious all season in these sprint classics, so he goes in as the absolute favourite.
On a short circuit like this the race is going to be incredibly fast but there are still people willing to try to force a gap. The first attack comes from Blaise Sonnery whose Red Bull team don’t have an absolute leader here. Clearly he has been given some freedom to ride his own race.
Right behind him are several more riders who quickly form a leading group of 9. They are: Ahmad Haidar Anuawar Davide Vigano Junpei Murakami Ben Jacques-Maynes Vojtech Hacecký Stefano Locatelli Fabio Borghesi Jakub Novak
Meiji and Rothaus will both be pleased to have someone in the early attacks. The peleton is less pleased however and they raise the pace. Gerald Ciolek is one of the favourites for today so having Locatelli up here for Bianchi means that they won’t have to work on the front. Puma and Hollister work together to bring everything back.
A new attack goes now, with the same riders as the first attack except without Locatellli and Murakami.
Seeing an opportunity, Jens Keukeleire seeks to bridge up with Murakami on his back wheel. Meiji almost missed the attack but they seem to have recovered.
With 75km remaining in today’s short race the leaders have built up a gap of 2’10”. The one man who has missed this attack who was in the earlier one is Locatelli, who now attacks up and manages to bridge the gap. That means that now 10 riders are in front and Bianchi’s plan to get someone in the break has come off.
Back in the pack there is no shortage of teams willing to set a blistering pace. The three main teams are Puma, Saab and, surprisingly, Meiji. This explains why Murakami has stopped working up front – clearly he is just marking the break in case it does stay away.
The gap gets out to a maximum of only 3’25”. However, Saab stop working when their unorthodox tactics are revealed – Kenny Van Hummel attacks out of the bunch with 45km remaining.
With 32km remaining he gets up to the leaders. The lead is down to 2 minutes, however and the peleton does not look like slowing down. This is particularly thanks to Hollister, who have started to work on the front again.
The extra infusion of riders on the front of the peleton sees a rapid reduction in the gap. With 22km remaining, the gap sits at 32”. Three riders come across the gap in an attempt to prise it out that little bit further. They are Geoffroy Lequatre, Francesco Chicchi and Sergei Lagutin. Saab’s tactics are just inexplicable today!
They all get up to the break, which is caught soon after that. Lagutin sets off alone with 20km to the finishing line. Could he pull off the big upset?
The big Uzbek man fights hard and, though he isn’t a bad rouleur at all, he can’t face the vicious might of the peleton today. With 14km remaining he is caught and it is clear that we will have a mass sprint.
On the front of the peleton coming into the final 10km are Puma and Hollister, two of the best sprint teams this season. The speed is well over 50km/h and the peleton is strung out horribly.
With 5km remaining Hollister have the lead. Davis is sitting third wheel. He hasn’t got the best lead-out men in this race, but they have placed him well. Bennati also has three of his own men in front of him and they look to be fighting for position. Cavendish sits on Bennati’s wheel and so are both Chicchi and Ciolek.
Just before the 3km to go sign, a last ditch attack occurs. It is Bauer and Lequatre!
They can’t really get away, but it does open up some room for Puma to come through. The problem is that Gasparotto had to pull them back, so with 1.7km to go Bennati is the second wheel but his lead-out man has to be tired.
With 1.7km to go Gasparotto is leading, ahead of Bennati and then Greipel, who has navigated himself magnificently onto Bennati’s wheel. Selander leads out Davis behind him, with Cavendish the next in line. On the left side of the road Corioni launches his sprint really early. Ciolek, Chicchi, Van Hummel and Sonnery are all near the front.
With 1.1km to go Greipel comes off Bennati’s wheel. Corioni is flying though and somehow Gasparotto is causing a gap to open up behind Bennati!
With 600m to go, Bennati comes off Gasparotto. He has ground to make up on Greipel though!
Davis and Ciolek come past a dying Gasparotto, but who will win this?!
Bennati wins it by less than a bike length! Greipel is second and Corioni’s early sprint is rewarded with a podium spot.
Davis is fourth, with Ciolek in fifth. Cavendish also manages to come past Gasparotto for sixth place. Lequatre, having lead-out Ciolek and attacked in the dying kilometres, still manages an eighth. Chicchi’s earlier attack clearly didn’t harm him as he comes ninth and rounding out the top ten is Bernucci.
There was one withdrawal today from Staf Scheirlinckx, who crashed towards the end of the stage at the back of the peleton.
